When you’re just 17, landing the role of Cinderella in a leading professional pantomime might seem like a fairy tale too far.

But the stardust has already settled on the slender shoulders of young actress Alice Baker, who is in the second year of a musical theatre diploma at Guildford’s Performance Preparation Academy (PPA). In auditions which pitted her against nearly a dozen students from her own academy and several from other performing arts schools, Alice was chosen for the title role in the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre 2013/14 panto, by director Gerry Tebbutt. She will play alongside a cast which includes big names such as Bonnie Langford, as the Fairy Godmother, and Kit Hesketh-Harvey as one of the Ugly Sisters, as well as several fresh young faces.

Alice, from Swindon, moved to Guildford last year to start her course, where Gerry Tebbutt is head of musical theatre.

“The auditions were a bit nerve-wracking but I knew Gerry already so I felt supported,” says Alice, whose heart-shaped face and lustrous curls make her the image of a fairytale heroine.

“When I found out I had the role I felt so honoured. I never imagined I’d be able to get the title role in a big professional panto like this at my age. I screamed and cried and I’ve been on top of the world since.”

Although she was competing with some of her fellow students for the plum role, she says that there was no unhealthy rivalry.

“My year is very supportive and the academy has done really well with panto successes, with 23 students winning parts in shows across the country.”

She is particularly pleased to have the role of Cinderella, though, and not just because Cinders is the character that most little girls encounter in the first fairy tale they hear.

“Cinderella has spirit. She has a hard life but she’s an optimist and she gets what she wants.”

Is Alice an optimist too? “I think I am. You need to be in a career like acting.”

She can’t pinpoint a moment when she decided on a performing career, but she has danced from the age of two.

“My sister went to dance lessons and I tagged along, they couldn’t stop me. I did my first show, The Wizard of Oz, when I was four, and it went from there.”

She is close to her family and is looking forward to the Christmas Eve performance, which they will come to watch. “Afterwards my mum is going to drive me home for Christmas. We’ll be eating festive food and we’ll have the Christmas songs blaring out on the radio. It’s really going to be a great Christmas.”

Cinderella runs at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, until Sunday, January 12. To book, call the box office on 01483 440000 or visit